1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to labeling systems, and in particular, to systems for applying labels to specific areas of packages or boxes.
2. Related Art
Typically, products stored in cartons or boxes are identified by a label on the outside of the carton or box. Identifying information may also be printed directly onto the carton with inkjet or any other suitable printing technology. The label may have optically readable information, such as a UPC barcode. These labels allow optical readers using a laser beam to scan the information contained thereon, such as description, price, date packaged, or any other usable data. One disadvantage of optically readable labels is that the optical reader and the label must be within a specific spatial relationship to each other, such as within a line of sight or along a perpendicular scan direction, or is limited in range by the optical reader.
A more recent type of label uses RFID or Radio Frequency Identification tags to store information. RFID uses radio frequency signals to acquire the data from the data within range of an RFID reader. RFID transponders or tags, either active or passive, are typically used with the RFID reader to read information from the RFID tag embedded in a label. RFID tags and labels can be obtained through companies such as Alien Technology Corporation of Morgan Hill, Calif.
One advantage of RFID labels is that line of sight is no longer required to read the label. This is a significant advantage since with barcodes, anything blocking the laser beam from the barcode would prevent the barcode from being read. Using radio frequencies allows RFID labels to be read through solid objects located between the RFID label and the RFID reader.
With either type of label, there may be optimal or more desirable locations on a carton, box, or package to attach the label. For example, for a decorative box to be used at a store for purchase by consumers, it may be desirable to place the label discretely on a corner so that more of the box can be used for visuals. For a carton used in a warehouse, it may be desirable to place the label near the center of the carton for ease of reading, since aesthetics would not be as important as for the store box.
However, current methods for placing a label on a box do not easily allow different placements for different size boxes for different systems. The label application system can be set for specific X and Y coordinates, but as the size, shape, and dimensions of boxes change, the labels are still placed at the same absolute X and Y coordinates. Thus, label placement may be optimal for a first box, but less than optimal for a second different box.
Accordingly, there is a need for label application systems that can apply labels onto packages that overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art as discussed above.